Lie One

Leviticus 19:11

Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

                                                                                                                  

Why do we lie to each other?  Of what are we afraid?  The truth?  If the truth is offensive, then what is life?  Some kind of game?

 

To lie to and deceive another is to steal.  We rob people when we deny them the truth.  We rob them of a relationship with who we truly are – and we rob ourselves.  When we present ourselves to others as something that we are not, we can never enter into authentic and truly intimate, loving relationships with those people.  Perhaps, we think that this is not a problem as long as we lie to strangers (strangers who we may think are only looking to get something from us for themselves, anyway, for that’s how closely greed and dishonesty are linked in our lives.)  But every single person in my life has started off as a stranger.  I was conceived in my mother’s womb – but did I know her?  From the moment of my conception, half of my DNA was from my father – but did I know him?  As they held me in their arms, rocked me, fed me, bathed me, kissed me, I came to know them more – but only because they gave themselves to me through truly loving me.  And if I deny this opportunity of knowing me and loving me to other people, then everyone will remain a stranger to me.  If I lie to strangers, and make it difficult for them to know my real self, then I cheat myself of the opportunity to know them.

 

So often, however, we lie to the people that we love.  Why?  Sometimes because we have done something that we know is wrong and we don’t want them to know about it and other times because we think they should be protected from the truth about themselves or someone else and so we tell them a lie that we think they will want to hear.  To the second kind of life first, we cannot really know what is good or bad for a person.  A “kind lie” can eventually hurt much more and do much more damage than the painful truth.  We don’t have to tell the bride, just before she walks down the aisle, that her dress looks hideous on her – that’s a matter of opinion, anyway.  But, as the truth about someone’s bad conduct has a way of inevitably coming out, let’s not compound this difficulty by telling a lie.  The person that we are trying to protect wants to be able to trust us – that is the basis of every relationship.  When in such a relationship with a person, it is far better to trust that person with being able to handle the truth – and to help them to do so in whatever way that we can.

 

The first kind of lie, then, is an attempt to protect ourselves.  We did something bad and we don’t want someone else to know about it – because we don’t want to be punished by them or look bad in their eyes.  So we hide ourselves.  But, if we keep hiding ourselves, we will not be able to connect to anyone, because no one will know who we are.  We will begin to feel that we are living a lie, whether consciously so or not, we will feel an estrangement between us and others, a decrease in trust, and a growing absence of love.  Only through truth can we truly connect with others – and only through truly connecting to others can we truly love.  When someone presents us with their truth – ugly or painful as it may be – we must, at least, thank them for respecting us enough to tell us the truth.  If we are honest, then we will know ourselves and know that we are just as capable as doing something so hurtful or ugly given a certain set of circumstances and, so, in truth, we should be merciful – for that is exactly how we would want to be treated.  We should not assist the person in hiding or covering up their truth.  We are all flawed and we must accept that.  Only in accepting that, can we learn to forgive.  And only by forgiving, can we really be honest with one another, connect, and love.

 

It’s not that I have the right to know the truth – standing stridently with fists on hips – it’s that the fullness of reality contains my true self and my true joy.  Anything less than the truth (whether received from someone or given by me) is a turning away from the fullness of reality and, so, a turning away from God.  God’s perfect, we are not.  And we usually lie to cover up our imperfections.  But, perhaps, doing that also covers God’s perfection, His divine forgiveness, His mercy and love.  The truth will set us free.  Do not be afraid.  Only by fearlessly confessing what we have done, how the world is, and who we are, can we appreciate and accept the majesty of God, our need for salvation, and God’s infinite, merciful love.

Christina Chase

It Shall Come to Pass

Deuteronomy 7:12-13

Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

 

I have heard some religious people say that if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and keep God’s Commandments, then we will be blessed abundantly, our works for prosperity will be rewarded and our prayers answered.  I have also been personally told that if I have enough faith in Jesus and in God’s power to work miracles and is am truly good, then prayers for my physical healing will be answered.  The time that I distinctly remember being told this was not the first time I had heard such a thing.  Though I was willing to believe, I did not stake my entire joy upon its coming true.  I remember having the thought that, perhaps, no matter how much faith I had or how good I was, God might not want me to be able to walk.  And yet, I never thought that it was God’s desire for me to be disabled – like that was God’s Perfect Will, His ideal plan for me.  I knew, even as a child, that nothing is perfect.  Nobody is perfect.  I knew that I didn’t deserve to be crippled… I knew that I also didn’t deserve to not be crippled.  Genetic defects are not about individual human worth, they aren’t doled out by God based on what each of us deserves.  It’s just nature.  And nature isn’t God, so it isn’t perfect.  It’s got flaws.  And I can accept that and love life, love Creation and adore the Creator, crippled as I am.

 

But, then… There will be that reported miracle on the Catholic television station… The long list of miracles recorded in books of Saints… And I will wonder… What makes that person who was cured of her debilitating disease after visiting Lourdes different?  Is it because her faith was so strong, her heart so pure, and her desire to walk again so great that God answered her prayer?  If she hadn’t gone to Lourdes, would He have answered it anyway?  Or does one have to board a plane and book a hotel room to show one’s sincerity of desire and faith?

 

Yep, I’m skeptical.  God is all-powerful and God can render any drop of water holy if See chooses.  But… Perhaps it’s the leap of faith taking the person to another country that accesses God’s power to heal.  And yet… It’s not right to say it that way: “accesses God’s power to heal” – like there’s some manipulation on our part.  At best, it’s like a child at prayer who might say, “God, if I’m really good and I do this, and that, and another thing, will you give me what I want?  I know that you can give it to me, so, pleeease?”  There could, of course, be no sense on the part of the supplicant of her deserving the miracle.  There must be, of course, an acknowledged need for God’s mercy.  And a plane ticket…?  At worst, trying to access God’s power to heal is like pagan religions of the past and the present.  Witchcraft is wrong because, in its basic concept, it seeks to tap into and channel the “divine forces” of nature, cosmic powers or whatever, in order to enact one’s will in the world.  Now, just to be clear, I’m not saying that all witches have practiced in this way, there may well be an acquiescence to what the “universe” wills.  Sometimes… I do wonder how different some of our prayers are from this kind of witchcraft.  You know, thinking, “if the universe wills it, then it will happen, but, in order to know, make good with any who might hold anything against you, recite this incantation every day for nine days, and eat this specially prepared morsel.”

 

But I digress…

 

I am a believing Christian.  And, so, I do believe in miracles.  Yes, there is the miracle of a new human being born into the world and of a hurt that is forgiven after years of suffering.  Even an atheist can appreciate these with wonder and call them “miracles”.  A recovery that might not have an explanation can be considered by some nonbelievers as miraculous precisely because it was a wonderful, dramatic surprise and it’s origins are unknown – for now.  But, I mean real miracles – divine interventions into a situation, which, if nature had been left to its own course, would have had dire or deadly results but, which, instead, through no human actions, have the opposite desired and pleasing results.  But… Why do I have to ask a saint to pray for me or drink water from an officially sanctioned shrine to get those results, to get those miracles?  Hmm… I said that I’m a believing Christian who believes in real miracles, but… Maybe I don’t.  Or, maybe, it isn’t faith that I lack – just understanding.  And who can understand the ways of God?

 

All this rambling to say that God works in mysterious ways.  And not always in the ways that we want.  Yes, it does seem right to our minds that good people should be rewarded with all the things that we consider to be good: health, well-being, prosperity, long life, and a large, healthy, happy, loving family.  And when good, simple, loving, faith-filled people contract illnesses, or get fired, or hit a stone while riding a bicycle and die – well, we have to figure out why bad things happen to good people.  And certainly bad things happen to innocent people – newborns suffering from painful, lethal sicknesses come to mind.  So, we say that physical rewards are not the best things that God has to offer.  Vibrant health is not as important as vibrant holiness, pleasurable comforts are not as important as the peace that comes from trust in God, and material wealth is not as important as spiritual wealth of faith, hope, and love.

 

Therefore, what God is really trying to tell us through Scripture is that full, deep and truly committed relationship with Him will always yield positive benefits for us.  These benefits will not always come in the form of creature comforts because sometimes those kind of benefits can actually get in the way of our relationship with God – we can get lazy and apathetic in the drunkenness of earthly delights.  That’s why I’m sure that the steward at the wedding feast in Cana said what he said with shock and a bit of contempt: “You fool, why would you waste the expensive and really tasty wine on people who are already too drunk on the other stuff to enjoy it??”  We do get drunk on the other stuff too easily and too quickly – and then we miss out on the joy of drinking in the truly good wine.  What bewildered the steward bewilders us as well: why does God pour out His mercy and love upon those who are paying no attention to Him at all?  For the rich, strong, attractive people seem to have everything without any leaps of faith, without any acts of worship to the one, true living God.  And, yet, those who are poor, ill and marginalized are attending religious services and singing songs of praise and worship to God.  Obviously, they are not being rewarded for their faith – look at them.  So, what’s the point of praying?  What’s the point of believing in anything beyond the pleasures of here and now?

 

What we don’t see is that the good wine being poured out by God on to everybody – everybody – is forgiveness and true love.  This does not come in the form of a spacious mansion or an aesthetically pleasing body.  In fact, if we had to draw a picture of what this forgiveness and true love looks like we would draw a cruciform with a dead body hanging upon it – the body of God Incarnate suffering the pinnacle of human weakness, poverty, rejection, cruelty and pain.  You don’t want to think about that when you’re wearing silk and jewels, eating crème brulé while laughing and chatting with your flattering friends, a pleasant wine buzz in your brain.  It isn’t that the enjoyment of earthly pleasures precludes the enjoyment of heavenly ones, it’s that the consumption of richness without exercise of the heart can result in the clogging of the pathways to and from the heart – oh, yeah, and the loss of life.  And I do mean that figuratively and literally.  The heart needs to be open to divine love so it can flow through our actions.

 

One at the wedding feast in Cana can drink the wine that is served first without excess, without the desired intent to intoxicate oneself, and still remain open to the joy of the superior wine.  One can have lands and property and vibrant health and an earthly legacy without excessive indulgence, without the desire to intoxicate oneself with one’s own abundance, and still remain open to the joy of spiritual health and wealth and well-being.  Worldly joys come through worldly things and, as is the nature of nature and worldly things, you win some, you lose some.  But heavenly joys come through heavenly things and, as is right and true in the nature of God, you are being showered with them always and everywhere.  If you’re too drunk to notice – and that goes for dry drunks, too – it’s not God’s fault.

 

Where does that leave me with prayers and miracles?  I have no idea right now.  My hour is most definitely up.

Christina Chase

Holy Unto Me

Leviticus 20:26

And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

In the ways of mere creatures, in the strictly physical ways, weakness is a flaw and might makes right.  True power is an earthquake, a storm, a consuming fire.  A still, small voice is drowned out in the blowing of horns and the swirling currents of shouting.  To win is to merely survive.  To die is to lose.  And yet… And yet we believe that the All-Powerful One, Creator and Master of the Universe, Eternal and Infinite God, has a voice quieter than the tiniest whisper, deigns to condescend into the limitedness of human form, and, thus vulnerable, is killed by the State upon an executioner’s cross.  If these are the ways of the Divine, then what does this say about the ways of mere creatures?

 

As human beings, we are created by the Creator in the Divine Image and Likeness.  Divine freedom is ours… And yet we choose to exercise this freedom in separating ourselves from the Divine.  Fallen from the purity of union with God, our divinely given intelligence is darkened and our divinely given freewill is weakened so that we are overly self-conscious and, caught up in the mere physical, we ignore, forget, and neglect the spiritual truth of our humanity as Images of God.  No longer God-conscious, our self-centered quest becomes one for power, seeking to be like what we think God should be.  We want to dominate and use Creation for our own selfish wills.  Naked and afraid, we either use might to push our wills or, frightened by the force of those who are stronger than us, we succumb to the might and follow their will.  But… What of the Will of the One Who created us in His Own Image?

 

God has created us to be other than merely physical creatures.  All that God has created is good.  Reflecting upon all that is good in Creation, God creates human beings in order that we may reflect the goodness of God into Creation.  God gave us intellect that we may know Him and free will that we may love Him and serve Him.  United with the Divine Will, we willingly place our whole selves, body and soul, into the service of the Divine.  Thus, in the freely loving gift of ourselves to God, we become who we are created to be.  Only in remembering, focusing upon, and caring for who we are in our entirety can we ever be fulfilled.  For we are holy, as God is holy, set apart for infinite love and eternal relationship with God.  To live for anything less, misses the mark of our full potential.  To strive for anything less, is a profanation of our integral holiness.  For we are made to be holy unto God, who loves us infinitely.  We are made to be set apart from the ways of mere creatures by our Creation; and we are re-made, restored, saved, to be set apart from the fallen-world concept of power in destruction by Christ, through the humility of God in the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Paschal Sacrifice.  This is the true power of the universe, this is the true might of the Divine: quiet… humble … vulnerable … generous… holy… self-giving love.

Christina Chase

The Land

Genesis 36:12

The land I once gave

to Abraham and Isaac I now give to you;

And your descendents after you

will I give this land.

 

[Due to an Internet connection problem, I was unable to retrieve a randomly chosen piece of Scripture through Bibledice.com.  So, I had my mother open the Bible to a random place and chose the first line that my eyes fell upon.  Well, actually… The first line that my eyes fell upon was about Jonathan amassing an army and, well, I cheated because I didn’t like that one.  My mother opened the Bible to another place and this was the line my eyes fell upon, which, I have to say, is not much better.  Oh well, that’s the nature of the game!]

 

The promised land is a place to live in peace and prosperity.  All humans long for such a place.  Communities band together to form a governing body in order to create a land free from violence and thievery, free from hunger, poverty and rampant illness.  In the millennia long history of humankind, however, has such a place ever existed?

 

An historical expert could, I suppose, make arguments for this tribe or that nation through different periods of time in different corners of the earth as being idyllic, a Shangri-La of antiquity – but even they would know that it wasn’t perfect.  And it certainly didn’t last.  A biblical scholar could explain what was great about life in the promised land given to Abraham and Isaac – and then go on to explain how difficult life was there and how its inhabitants fell short of the ideal.  Some people may say that the United States of America is a nation that comes closest to upholding the ideals of humankind and safeguarding the rights of all to live in peace and prosperity.  But, as we all know, no one is free from illness here, people live in the streets, children go hungry, and crime is not even close to being wiped out, rather, we hear news of theft, violence, or mayhem every day.  So… Should we just forget about the whole notion of a promised land?

 

No.  For one thing, if we attempt the best, then we will achieve the good.  For in the very striving to improve, we attain one of the greatest values of the promised land: caring.  To give up on making life better for ourselves and our neighbors is to succumb to apathy.  And apathy is a gray and miserable place where the only kind of happiness is felt in short bursts, like needle punctures that drain away life and rot out vitality until true joy cannot penetrate numb and withered bodies.  We don’t want to live there.  But if we try for the promised land, if we keep that hope alive, it is because we care about goodness and healthy sustenance for all – and then we are more fully alive and nourished by compassion and faith.  Love is the only thing that can bring us to any kind of a paradise.  Peace is not something that can be forced.  A heavily armed peacekeeper is always ironic to me.  And the sharing of plenty can’t be doled out in lines, forcefully subtracting from some and adding to others so that numbers are even.  Could we maybe say… If you have the absence of war and the absence of malnutrition, but you have not love….  The truth is that only through love – which is always a free gift – can there be true peace and true plenty.  And as we humans are flawed creatures, indeed, in constant need of restoration, we must first seek love that is free and eternal – not our own drawn out blueprints of the Ideal State, but the Kingdom of God that we can only enter through a state of Grace.

 

The other thought that this Scripture passage leads me to is glimpsed in a poem by Ben Johnson.  The thought is that the promised land – which, yes, is a state of being more than anything else – can perhaps best be reflected in a small grouping of people: a family.  Home is where the heart is.  Too often, our hearts are left to toss in desolate wastelands – no wonder, then, that there is so much misery and aggression.  But, when the heart finds refuge in a safe and loving place, when we are truly homed in the giving and receiving of love with our dear ones, then we are living in a promised land.  You see, it is about love.  And what begins with the heart in the home can spread outward to the hearts of others.  But, if it doesn’t begin at home, with the heart, with true love, then we cannot see it in our communities, in our nations, in our world.  The promised land cannot be imposed as something foreign into the human hearts.  We must learn, we must begin, in our most intimate relationships.  Though it is so small compared to the greater population, home is everything.

“It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.”

Christina Chase

In All Utterance, and in All Knowledge

1 Corinthians 1:3-6

Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

What is truth?

Truth is not a something, but a someone.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.”  Jesus Christ is the Light of the world – “The true light, which enlightens everyone”.[1]  All who seek knowledge, all who seek wisdom, all who seek truth, seek Christ.  For, he is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”[2] 

He is that divine Logos the Greeks glimpsed through inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Christ is fully God – and fully human, being God Incarnate.  By assuming human nature, Christ Jesus, Word of God made flesh, sanctified human kind.  Every human being, therefore, who receives grace from God is given it by Christ; likewise every human being who is enriched in truth is enriched by Christ.  Every human mind, every human heart, seeking and longing for truth, for beauty, for wisdom, is in quest for God’s Word.  Whether we know it or not, whether we profess Christ as Lord and Savior or not, Christ is Lord in that he is God Incarnate, the Alpha and the Omega, the one through whom all things are made.  There is no ageless wisdom, no true discovery, no real knowledge, without the Word of God.  And all who speak truth speak in his name, whether they profess belief in his name or not – for by seeking and finding and praising truth, they cannot help but seek and find and praise Christ.  We who know him as Savior and Lord know this because, through the gift of faith and Salvation in Christ, our finite eyes have been opened toward the infinite and we recognize him in all that is good.  Praise be to God.

Christina Chase

 

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[1] John 1:1-9

[2] John 14:6

The Holy Ghost Was Given, he Offered Them Money

 

Acts 8:17-22

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

Money can’t buy me love.  Or can it?

 

What is the experience of love if not a pleasant feeling of belonging and satisfaction?  I can purchase feelings of pleasure: massages, fast cars, ice cream cones, teddy bear sheets, or a trip to the amusement park.  I can purchase a feeling of belonging: memberships to a gym or celebrity fan club, or the novel or handful of coupons that get me into the book club or coupon trading circle.  And I can purchase a feeling of satisfaction: home improvement, pizza delivered to me whenever I have a craving, or the perfect outfit that makes my classmates envious at the reunion.  If love is the ultimate of feelings, then it, too, can surely be acquired through money.  Maybe I can’t technically purchase a person, but… If I have a lot of money, then I can find people I like and buy them pleasures and satisfactions.  They will therefore love being with me and praise me for giving them such great gifts, thus deepening my feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and belonging – for we will share a life of enjoyment together for as long as those good feelings last.  And when the pleasant feelings end, I will simply find new ones.  What more can we ask of love?

 

Isn’t that true?

No.

 

First, we overuse the word love.  I love ice cream cones, I love discussing books with other people, and I love a well decorated house.  But, when I say that I love God… This is something else entirely.  Our overused word of “love” is utterly insufficient to express what exists between me and the Creator and Master of the Universe.  I don’t like God to an extreme degree or intensity.  It is not enough even to say that I have a positive feeling toward God.  To know Him is to love Him.  Not because He is so wonderfully likable or because He does such delightful favors for me.  This love for God, this love of God, is beyond anything that I experience in an earthly way.  And God’s love for me… There are no words to describe it.  So, for now, for here, I’m going to call this love Love.

 

To my second point: Love isn’t a feeling.  I said that to know God is to Love God.  To be in any mindful kind of way in the presence of God is to experience Love… I don’t even want to use the word experience… it is to Love.  I have heard it said that Love is a choice.  And I agree.  Love is an act of will, it is not simply something that we feel or that we experience in a happening kind of way.  Love doesn’t come serendipitously to us and we don’t find Love out in the world – no matter what romance novels may say.  Rather, true Love is.  And we either do it or we don’t.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with money or health or influence or fame or even likability.  The poorest of humans can Love the most richly.  And Love has nothing to do with how we feel.  In fact, you know that you truly Love if you are doing it when you don’t feel like doing it at all.

 

And what are you doing?  If Love is something that we do, what is it that we do?  We are simply opened up and giving ourselves always and everywhere.  And, no, not giving our bodies for other people’s pleasures.  That’s not Love.  Rather, we know ourselves, we know the truth of who we are, images of God, and we share this truth, this reality of our being, with ourselves, with God, with every person that we meet, with the world.  Do I mean evangelize?  Yeah, sure – but in the sense that the words that we choose to speak, just like the actions that we choose to take, are so at one with the reality of who we are, that the truth simply, naturally, flows forth from us to others.  So, the first question to ask, when pondering Love, is, Who am I?  I am goodness, I am truth, I am kindness, I am generosity, I am mercy, I am strength, I am gentleness, I am Love – because I am the image of God, as created by God.  This is who I am.  It is only when I am truly myself that I am truly able to Love.  For when I am truly myself… then I truly Love.

 

You have heard it said that God is Love.  Let me try to explain that further.  God is the free gift of self.  That is Love.  To think that this is something that we could actually buy with money?  …As if it were some perishable thing, some fleeting feeling… And as if what is inherently free could ever be up for sale, could ever be possessed – it cannot, for Love can only be given and Love can only be received by giving it away…

Christina Chase

 

Ignorantly in Unbelief

1 Timothy 1:12-14

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

 

Just unveiled, in the state of Florida, is a monument erected by the American Atheists on the public grounds of courtyard.  A few years ago, a Christian group erected a large monument engraved with the 10 Commandments on the same grounds.  The atheists’ monument, in the form of a bench with quotations carved upon it, is meant not only to counteract the other but also to show that freedom of religion is not just for Christians.

 

As a former atheist, I take great interest in this story.  For, though I now see that I was in error in stating that there was no such thing as God, at the time I did so in ignorant unbelief.  I was not angry at God or at whatever forces may be behind life.  I was not a disgruntled human, unhappy with my lot.  I was neither contemptuous nor mean toward others who did believe in God.  I claimed no superiority over anyone, even though I believed I was right as an atheist and that everyone else who believed in God was wrong.  And I was not an evangelical practitioner of atheism, zealously seeking to spread the gospel of no God.  I simply became an atheist after I asked myself a simple question: am I trying to find a way to believe in God and to practice a religion out of fear?  I then let myself do something that was very easy – stop believing.  There was no benevolent Creator, no merciful Lord, prayers were useless and the afterlife was a fairytale.  I got every religious and spiritual habit out of my life and knew that there was nothing Beyond and nothing More.  And I wasn’t afraid.  And I wasn’t unhappy.  So content was I with knowing that there is nothing spiritual that I didn’t even feel the need to convert anyone.

 

This is not the place to tell how I could no longer be an atheist and how I became a believing Catholic Christian.  What I do want to write here is that I respect atheists who are such because of serious thinking and committed choice.  What they may not want to hear me say is that I respect their beliefs.  Beliefs, yes, for only a true blue agnostic can claim not to believe anything – they get so hung up on not being able to prove something for certain that they just go about their lives without choosing one way or the other.  (And also, perhaps, people who claim to belong to a religion but who don’t care to think about whether they believe it not.)  But, atheists actively choose.  And that takes guts.  That takes courage.

 

And so, I am glad that the American Atheists have erected a monument in the public square alongside the 10 Commandments.  (Which, by the way, are obviously not only Christian, as millions of Jews will tell you.)  I am glad that they feel so strongly in their beliefs that they want to share them with others – and that they are able to do so because of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.  Being in the form of a bench with writing, the designers are even inviting people outside of a government building to sit for a while and read thoughts about God.  The quotations carved on the bench show how breaking of the 10 Commandments was punished in the Old Testament of the Bible, providing a great (albeit unintentional) demonstration of the mercy that comes in the New Testament.  (Yes, I’m smirking.  Why do some atheists like to talk about God so much?)  And some of the other quotations show how the founding fathers claimed no religious mission on their part, that they wanted to make it clear that the government of the United States would not be based on a divine right of rulers (it would be based on a divine right of human beings, but that’s not on the monument) and would not provide funds for the budgetary needs of any religion, like Great Britain did for the Church of England.  This is one of the greatest things that the founders of our country did – to establish a national government that would “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”[1].  And I’m glad of the choice made by the American Atheists to enter into the public square and share their beliefs instead of trying to make the public square barren with very little “free exercise”.

 

Having read several articles, however, I’m not quite sure if this is the true intent of the organization.  In fact, the key quotation that is most visible on the bench is from the group’s founder and sounds thoroughly anti-religion.  The superior tone of the quote was even noted by an atheist and blogger at NPR, Barbara J King.  This vision of atheists as having superior thoughts is even, it seems to me, embodied by the group’s own symbol: the nucleus with a large letter A at the center.  I don’t know of any mainstream Christian symbols with a cross at the center of a nucleus… A nucleus is a nucleus.  Shouldn’t atheists of all people know that?  The group’s intent in erecting the monument is, I believe, to tick off us ignorant Christians so that we will agree to their original idea – an empty public square.  I’m sure there are some Christians and other religious people who will be offended by the monument (especially by that quote by the American Atheists founder) but the majority of us will see that this is what freedom of religion is all about and why nations around the world can look to America on how people of various cultures and religions can live peacefully in one place.  There is nothing threatening to faith in this monument.

 

It atheists really wanted to see this monument as the 1^st monument to atheism erected in United States on public ground, then, perhaps, they should’ve done a lot more to extol the virtues of atheism in the monument itself.  Instead, it inaccurately suggests that religious people are opponents of public works and mercy under the law.  And all that they can say about the founders of our country is that they did not see the founding of the US as the founding of a Christian Nation and that the Constitution was not inspired by the gods.  What, are we supposed to be shocked by that and become instant atheists?  Please.  Where is the information about the goodness and soundness of atheism that will inspire a generation to embrace unbelief?  I saw a picture of a man standing on top of the monument and shouting out to the crowd.  I don’t know what he was saying.  But, from what I’ve learned about the zealous/activist atheists of today and what I know of my own personal experience as a nonevangelical atheist, I think this is a clearer monument to atheism: a pile of gray, stony arguments topped by a shouting individual.

 

Meanwhile (getting back to my randomly given Scripture quote) I thank the Lord for grace, for enabling me to be counted among the faithful, and for the exceeding abundance of faith and love in Christ Jesus.  And I’m grateful to live in the United States of America where I am free to seek the truth… the truth has set me free.

Christina Chase

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[1] Bill Of Rights – I don't think this is on the monument

I Will

Matthew 8:2-3

And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

 

The tenderness of God cannot be exaggerated.  Infinite and eternal, beyond death, beyond fragility, the Lord of the Universe is all-powerful.  Whatever God wants, God gets.  The forces of nature obey His Will and there is no question, no doubt whatsoever, as to who is in charge.  God’s control is absolute.  And yet… Where is love in this?  Because of love, God willingly chooses to create a species in which He will claim none of His omnipotent control.  He grants freedom to these creatures and truly loves these creatures because they are not switches and gears, preprogrammed entities of unquestioning obedience.  They are fully alive as God is fully alive; and God shares with them the ability to love, to willingly choose to give of oneself completely to the other, not as a will-less response to inevitable forces, but as a free choice to truly love.  And, so, human beings.

 

Though all that is good, all that is healthy, all that is right, all that is true resides in God’s Ordained Will, we, humans, because we are free and not forced into acceptance of Truth, have the capacity to reject Truth and turn away from all that is good, to turn away from God.  We do this in embracing self-consciousness, in seeking to please ourselves, we do this in refusing love.  For love is God-consciousness and, when the first human beings chose to absent themselves from this, the effect on human nature was ingrained.  Our God-given intellects became darkened and our God-given free will became weakened, and we make our choices in the half light of a fallen world, self-centered and afraid.  Prone to the suffering of mental confusion and physical illness, prone to the pain of the selfish greed and using cruelty of other humans, we have the capacity to merely survive until death ends the thrust of our existences.  And… As we are still created in the image and likeness of God… We also have the capacity to have our minds cleansed of selfish toxins and give over our very hearts to God-consciousness, to truth, to love.  But, who will help us?

 

The tenderness of God cannot be exaggerated.  Though infinite and eternal, He took on the fragility of a finite human form; though divinely omnipotent and divinely omniscient, He assumed human nature and became one of us.  In the ultimate humility and generosity of love, His self-sacrifice is a total commitment, a sacrifice of self through love for the other.  In the Mystery of Incarnation, that, with Creation, is like the second wave of the heartbeat of God’s Word, of the Creative Force that is the ultimate act of divine love, God becomes Man.  He gives of Himself completely – fatigued, frustrated, grieving, betrayed, abandoned, ridiculed, tortured, trapped, thirsty – the full reality of a human life, loving completely, even to the point of death, death on a cross: Christ Jesus.  And while Jesus lived and breathed among us, walking in our midst, unknown to us, he sanctified human nature, he redeemed humankind, he put forth his human hand, calloused with work, dusty with travel, and touched the wounded among us, cleansing and healing bodies, hearts and minds, restoring those downtrodden by the world to the fullness of life, to supreme wholeness, to God-consciousness, to truth and love.

 

And now, weary and lost in this world, we approach Christ and know that we will be cleansed, healed, restored, if He but wills it.  Moved with sympathetic tenderness, gazing lovingly through human eyes, He puts forth His hand and Wills to touch us, wounded as we are, and to transform our lives infinitely.  Christ who once walked among us on travel-worn feet, now approaches us through one another and receives our pilgrims steps in the embrace of His Church.  Therefore, let us not understate by self-centered actions the tender mercy and love of God.